Fantastic Ships

[John]

> 'An ancient obscure Irish manuscript, 'Speculum Regali',
> records an incident that supposedly occurred in the year 956
> A. D.: "There happened in the borough of Cloera, one Sunday
> while people were at mass, a marvel. In this town there is a
> church to the memory of St. Kinarus. It befell that a metal
> anchor was dropped from the sky, with a rope attached to it,
> and one of the sharp flukes caught in the wooden arch above
> the church door.
>
> The people rushed out of the church and saw in the sky a ship
> with men on board, floating at the end of the anchor cable,
> and they saw a man leap overboard and pull himself down the
> cable to the anchor as if to unhook it.
>
> "He appeared as if he were swimming in water."
>
> The folk rushed up and tried to seize him; but the bishop
> forbade the people to hold the man for fear it might kill him.
> The man was freed and hurried up the cable to the ship, where
> the crew cut the rope and the ship rose and sailed away out of
> sight. But the anchor is in the church as a testimony to this
> singular occurrence."'

Aaah, so now we know where Spelljammer came from..........
Scro taking vacations in Dublin, gnomish Sidewheelers parked up in
Connemara as their owners take a spot of fresh air......
It's all becoming much clearer....

;-)

John.

"Once I was a lamb, playing in a green field. Then
the wolves came. Now I am an eagle and I fly in a
different universe."
"And now you kill the lambs," whispered Dardalion.
"No, priest. No one pays for lambs."
- David Gemmel, Waylander

[Hibbs, Philip]

in Fate magazine of June 1973 . . .

'An ancient obscure Irish manuscript, 'Speculum Regali',
records an incident that supposedly occurred in the year 956
A. D.: "There happened in the borough of Cloera, one Sunday
while people were at mass, a marvel. In this town there is a
church to the memory of St. Kinarus. It befell that a metal
anchor was dropped from the sky, with a rope attached to it,
and one of the sharp flukes caught in the wooden arch above
the church door.

The people rushed out of the church and saw in the sky a ship
with men on board, floating at the end of the anchor cable,
and they saw a man leap overboard and pull himself down the
cable to the anchor as if to unhook it.

"He appeared as if he were swimming in water."

The folk rushed up and tried to seize him; but the bishop
forbade the people to hold the man for fear it might kill him.
The man was freed and hurried up the cable to the ship, where
the crew cut the rope and the ship rose and sailed away out of
sight. But the anchor is in the church as a testimony to this
singular occurrence."'


transcription of a United States Air Forces Academy textbook,
'Introductory Space Science, Volume II, Department of Physics, USAF',
edited by Major Donald G. Carpenter and co-edited by Lt. Colonel Edward
R. Therkelson
(http://in-search-of.com/frames/WWWBoard/messages/1412.html).
According to the online version, the book was taken off the curriculum
in the 1970s, due of the controversy surrounding it.

From Chapter XIII: Unidentified Flying Objects

'Even the Irish have recorded strange visitations. In the
Speculum Regali in Konungs Skuggsi=E1 (and other accounts of the
era about 956 A.D.) are numerous stories of "demonships" in
the skies. In one case a rope from one such ship became
entangled with part of a church. A man from the ship climbed
down the rope to free it, but was seized by the townspeople.
The Bishop made the people release the man, who climbed back
to the ship, where the crew cut the rope and the ship rose and
sailed out of sight.


Could this inspire an adventure?

Thanks to Dave Walsh for his weekly 'Blather' email newsletter. These
two extracts are from this week's edition.
http://www.nua.ie/blather


philip.hibbs@tnt.co.uk or phibbs@compuserve.com
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/phibbs